Present Drifter

Chapter 16

The ship is huge. A lot bigger than I thought it could be. Not including Asher's room or the small room above it, there are three floors on the ship. The floor below the deck contains the dining room and food storage that I walked through on the way to the cells. At first, I had assumed that was the entirety of the ship, but below that is the crew's quarters and below that is the rest of the storage space on the ship.

After Asher and I talked for a little, he gave me a tour of the ship, his ship. As soon as he mentioned there was more than just the one floor below the deck, I was shocked. I also learned there's another room like his on the opposite side of the deck, just slightly smaller.

I met the crew when Asher took me down to the crew's quarters. It was mainly a room almost identical to what I've labeled as the dining room except that there are hammocks and other beds randomly placed throughout the open space.

The crew had all jumped quickly to their feet when Asher walked in. It was made apparent to me just how much control he had as the captain. All of his crew was other guys about the same age as we are. Asher introduced me to them as Tempest and I haven't been able to get an explanation for that yet. A few of them looked at me in the same way that Piers which had sent shivers down my spine, but most of them seemed sweet. Asher never left my side, so I felt safe the whole time.

We stayed down there, talking with the crew, for an hour or so maybe. I don't really have a sense of time here in the middle of the ocean. When Asher was done, he nodded at his crew and he guided me back up to the deck.

Now we're standing up here in silence without the variety of his crew's voices. Asher has walked back to the railing and is staring off into the waters again. I stand a few feet behind him and find myself feeling hypnotized by the rhythm of the waves in front of us.

This is a place I never would've imagined finding myself. On board a pirate ship with a bunch of thieving teens. If I were standing up here with anyone else, I would be terrified. But then again, if it had been anyone else, I probably would have never been removed from that cell.

Asher had me placed in that cell, but then he saved me from Pier and introduced me to his crew. He told me that he feared he'd saved me from one danger just to bring me into another. Could this all somehow be intentional?

Asher has gotten frustrated with me, but it's also clear to me that some part of him cares for me. Does he know me? Is that why he saved me from Piers?

"I'm sorry," Asher says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Why?" I ask in confusion. The apology came from nowhere. I take a few steps forward out of curiosity until I'm standing right next to him.

"When I gave you the outfit, I forgot to mention I'd be giving you a nickname as well," he says explaining why he had introduced me as Tempest to his crew.

"That was confusing," I say, trying not to frustrate him in any way.

"After what Piers," he pauses. "After piers, I was hoping that making you fit in. Giving you an outfit like one of us and a name like one of us, well, I was hoping it would keep them from looking at you like that."

He noticed it too. The scary hunger in the eyes of his crew as they looked at me. The same hunger that Piers had in his eyes as he approached me.

Asher wraps his palms around the railing in front of him and leans into it, his head falling downwards towards the floor. He was trying to protect me.

"Why'd you pick Tempest?" I ask, changing the subject for the sake of both of us. Asher straightens up slightly as I speak, looking straight up again.